The Perryville Board of Aldermen made a decision on a way to help the city stay and look cleaner at its latest city council meeting on May 2.
Over the past few meetings, Alderman Clint Rice had questions regarding current requirements for concrete aprons on gravel driveways. Rice noted that after hard rains that gravel spills out onto the streets and he contends that something should be done to limit the rocks going out into the street or that the owners of the properties should monitor closely.
“We didn’t find anything in our ordinances that prohibits gravel driveways, but if you relate this to what we do with our street reconstruction projects. when we connect the driveway to the street we have a standard for that.” Perryville City Engineer Tim Baer said.
He noted that some of the problems with gravel could also be a drainage issue.
“Water runs down these alley ways and picks the gravel up and washes it out on the street,” Baer said. “It’s as much a drainage issue as much as anything else.”
It was suggested that any new construction going forward should have some level of concrete driveway.
“I don’t know how you tell someone they have to build a driveway,” Alderman Curt Buerck said.
It was also suggested that the city makes a new ordinance, but Tom Guth brought up that if they did that, then many of the alleys maintained by the city would be a violation.
Public Works Director Jeff Layton thought the city had 15 developed alleys that the city maintains.
“There are a couple of alleys that give us an issue,” Layton said. “We just have to keep a close eye on them and make sure we stay on top of it.”
It was eventually decided that gravel should be maintained five feet past the property right-away line. Something will be drawn up and presented to the board in the near future.
In other news, the city is entering into an agreement with Ames Construction as it pertains to leasing property at Perryville Regional Airport. It allows the design/build team for the Chester Bridge to rent space at the airport for their offices for the duration of this project. Which is expected to be upwards of four years. They have been given permission to get on site early and have begun staging their offices as the city worked to officially adopt the contract.
The board also accepted a rezoning request from Dave Richardet. Richardet is requesting approval to rezone a small parcel on his property located between Alma Avenue and Edgemont Blvd from R-2 to R-5. This area was previously part of a larger request which was denied but, at the time, it was suggested he come back for this particular parcel.
During the Perryville Administrator’s report, The grand opening for the Perryville Fire Station Number 2’s grand opening was set for May 17 at 12:15 p.m. Alderman Buerck asked if the time of the ceremony be moved back to about 5 p.m.
“If I was a firefighter I would want to be there,” Buerck said. “If we do it at noon during the day I’m not sure how many firefighters will be able to be there.”
Perryville Assistant Police Chief Bill Jones said that he would look into the matter.
The Perry County School District 32 is looking to add another school Resource Officer through a grant with the Perryville Police Department. The district has one already contracted with the county.
“With a campus that size, they probably need more than one,” Jones said.
The next meeting will be May 16.
